Continuous cutter



June 1959 D. PERKINS, JR., ETAL 2,890,751

CONTINUOUS CUTTER Filed'April 8, 1954 FRED DPERKINS JR ROBERT M. INGHAMJR ATTORNEY United States Patent CONTINUOUS CUTTER Fred D. Perkins, Jr., Clemson, and Robert M. Ingham, Jr., Spartanburg, S.C., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Deering Milliken Research Corporation, near Pendleton, S.C., a corporation of Delaware Application April 8, 1954, Serial No. 421,904

5 Claims. (Cl. 164-60) This invention relates to continuous cutters and more particularly to continuous cutters having a pair of coacting rolls, the first of said rolls having a sharpened peripheral edge and the second of said rolls having a hard surface against which the material to be severed is pressed by the sharp edge of said first roll.

Continuous cutters of the above type have heretofore been employed for removing the selvedges from woven material, pinking and in other applications involving the cutting of sheet materials. The cutters of this type currently in use generally employ a relatively wide anvil roll carried by a shaft which is journaled at each end. The

anvil roll is generally mounted to extend through a slotted plate which in turn is hinged and biased toward a cutter roll mounted on one end of a rotatable shaft. The relatively wide anvil roll is necessitated by the hinged plate arrangement which permits appreciable lengthwise movement of the anvil roll relative to the be completely unsatisfactory for use with filamentary materials, waste, lint and the like since not only does the wide anvil roll tend to collect cut filaments or lint but the rotating shaft at each end of the anvil roll and the shaft on which the cutter-roll is mounted soon collect sufiicient lint, cut filaments, etc., as to make the satisfactory operation of the cutter virtually impossible.

It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide a continuous cutter of the roll type which is suitable for use with filamentary materials, waste, lint and the like as well as for use with sheet materials.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved simple and effective means for enabling the cutter roll and anvil roll of a continuous, roll type cutter to be moved relative to each other without permitting the rolls ing as the outer race of a single radial thrust ball bearing.

It is stillanother object of the invention to provide an improved means for obtaining an-adjustment of the pressure between the anvil roll and the cutter roll of a roll type cutter.

1 'The above as well as otherobjects of the invention are I ccomplished by providing a pair of relatively narrow jrolls' at least one of which is. driven.- The driven roll is ice secured to a rotatable shaft which extends from a suitable housing and is completely surrounded between said housing and said roll by a fixed tubular shield carried by said housing and extending into a matching annular groove in the face of the driven roll. The second roll is journaled about an eccentric shaft also extending from a suitable housing and biased in such a manner as to cause the peripheral edge of the second roll to be urged against the peripheral edge of the first roll.

The cutter of this invention not only permits a simplified and efiicient design but has the additional advantages that there are no slotted plates or other such structures adjacent either of the rolls to collect filaments or lint and thereby interfere with the operation of the cutter. There likewise are no exposed rotating parts, other than the rolls themselves, in the immediate vicinity of the cutting v mechanism.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a view in perspective of the new cutter with parts broken away and in section.

There is generally indicated by the reference numeral 10 a rectangularly shaped housing having end walls 11 and 12 and front and rear walls 13 and 14 respectively. The housing is also provided with a cover 15 which is adapted to be secured by any suitable means such as by screws 16 and 17. Large portions of the front wall 13, cover 15 and end walls 11 and 12 have been broken away to illustrate the exact construction of the housing and in order to better illustrate the parts of the cutter contained within the housing.

Journaled longitudinally through the housing 10 is a shaft 18 (illustrated with portions broken away). The shaft 18 is freely rotatably by virtue of antifriction bearings such as ball bearings 19 and 20 mounted in end walls 11 and 12 respectively and is adapted to be rotated by any suitable means such as by drive pulley 21.

A second shaft 22 is mounted substantially at right angles to the drive shaft 18. Shaft 22 is also freely rotatable and is carried by antifriction bearings such as ball bearing 23 in front wall 13 and a ball bearing (not illustrated) positioned at 24 in rear wall 14. Mounted on shaft 22 and adapted to rotate therewith is a worm gear 25 adapted to cooperate with a worm 26 on shaft 18 to thereby result in the rotation of shaft 22. The shafts 18 and 22 are maintained in proper alignment by conventional retainer rings such as illustrated at 27 and 28 in the drawing.

Secured by means of threads 29 onto one end of shaft 22 externally of housing 10 is a narrow roll or disk 30, only the lower half of which is illustrated. The roll 30 has a sharpened peripheral edge 31 and is retained at a fixed selected distance from the housing 10 by means of a flange 32 against which the roll is positioned by threads 29. The threads 29 should be only of such length as to insure the securement of roll 30 and should not extend outwardly from the face of the roll since any such extenslon will serve to collect filaments when the apparatus is used on filamentary materials. The sharpened edge of the roll 30 is illustrated as being straight with respect to the periphery of the roll but it can obviously present a zigzag pattern, if desired, for the pinking of sheet material.

,housing and is so positioned-as to be at all times in spaced relationship to the roll 30. Theshield fitting into the groove in cutter roll 30 effectively prevents shaft 22 from collecting broken filaments, lint or the like.

Mounted in substantially parallel relationship to shaft 22 is a shaft 37 carried by antifriction bearings such as ball bearing 39 in wall 13 and a ball bearing (not illustrated) at 40 in wall 14. The shaft 37 extends through the forward wall 13 of housing and is so constructed that the extending section 33 is of larger diameter than the section of the shaft carried by bearings 39 and 40 and is eccentric to the axis of rotation. Mounted on the eccentric section 33 of shaft 37 is the anvil roll of the cutter, in this instance illustrated as comprising the race 41 of a relatively large ball bearing-42. The anvil roll can comprise any hardened annular ring member with a suitable surface for contacting the sharpened cutter roll but it is a feature of the invention that a preferred embodiment satisfactorily employs the narrow race of a ball bearing since this means that no additional machining is necessary and since this provides an exceedingly convenient and efficient means for mounting the anvil roll for rotation with a minimum of friction and wear. In addition, the race of the ball bearing is so narrow that it does not display a tendency to collect lint or cut filaments when the apparatus is employed with filamentary materials.

The bearing 42 is in substantially the same plane as roll 30 and its distance from housing 10 is fixed by a flange 43 on shaft 37 which in turn is secured against lengthwise movement by conventional retainer rings such as illustrated at 44. The size of bearing 42 is such that the peripheral edge of its outer race 41 is in contact with the edge 31 of roll 30 and the eccentricity of shaft 37 is such that attempted counterclockwise rotation of the shaft results in increased pressure of the bearing race 41 on the edge 31 of roll 30. This means of mounting the anvil roll eliminates the usual slotted plate and insures that the anvil roll will at all times remain in proper alignment with the cutter roll.

The eccentric shaft 37 is constantly urged to rotate in a counterclockwise direction by any suitable means such as by an upstanding arm 45 carried by shaft 37 and resiliently attached at its upper end by means of a spring 46 to a screw 47 threaded through wall 12 of housing 10. By changing the position of screw 47, it is possible to vary the bias on the eccentric shaft 37 so that the pressure of race 41 on edge 31 is fully adjustable. It will be seen that the hardened bearing race 41 is thereby adapted to serve as an anvil roll and cooperate with the cutter roll 3% when roll 30 is rotated, to give a cutting action.

To provide lubrication, the housing can be filled with a suitable lubricant to a sufficient depth to at least partially immerse the 'worm gear 25. The bearings at the ends of shafts 18, 22 and 37 will then be lubricated by splash. Grease retainers such as illustrated at 50, 51, 52 and 53 can be provided to prevent the escape of lubricant.

So that the cutter may be employed to cut long lengths of filaments or threads, the housing 10 is provided with a notch, groove or the like indicated by the reference numeral 54. The groove 54 is illustrated as extending crosswise of the base of the housing 10 and as being of such depth that it extends upwardly in wall 13 to a point slightly above the level at which roll 30 contacts roll or race 41.

In operation, screw 47 is adjusted so that roll 41 exerts a firm but not excessive pressure on the edge 31 of roll 30 and shaft 18 is then rotated by means of pulley 21 which in turn results in the rotation of rolls 30 and 41 in opposite directions. The material to be cut is then positioned so that it is nipped between the rolls 30 and 41 and thereby cut as it is fed between the rolls. In cutting sheet material or trimming the free ends of filamentary materials, it is possible for the rolls 30 and 41 to be rotated in either direction although if the rolls are to .be rotated so that their peripheral edges are moving downwardly at point of contact in the modification illus- 4 trated, the threads 29 should be cut right-handed so that the roll 30 remains tightly secured against flange 32. In cutting long filamentary material, shaft 18 should be rotated so that the peripheral edges of rolls 31 and 41 are moving upwardly at point of contact in the modification illustrated. The filaments may then be moved upwardly while positioned in a horizontal plane or at almost any angle to the horizontal and by virtue of groove 54 can readily be brought within the bite of rolls 30 and 41.

For a better understanding of how it is possible to advantageously employ the new device of this invention in the cutting of filamentary materials, reference may be had to copending US. application Serial Number 411,480 filed February 19, 1954, by one of us wherein there is disclosed a quill handling mechanism in which a modification of the new cutter is employed to trim the tails from quills.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a continuous cutter of the type having a cutter roll with a sharp peripheral edge adapted to rotate in contact with an anvil roll, the combination which com prises a gear housing, a substantially disk shaped cutter roll having an annular concentric groove in one face thereof, a rotatable shaft extending from said housing and adapted to carry said cutter roll in fixed relationship therewith and with said annular concentric groove facing said housing, a tubular shield carried by said housing and extending into the annular groove in said cutter roll, an eccentric shaft extending from said housing substantially parallel to said rotatable shaft, a freely rotatable anvil roll journaled about said eccentric shaft, said anvil roll having a peripheral surface adapted to contact the sharp peripheral edge of the cutter roll, and a spring operatively connected to said eccentric shaft and adapted to bias said eccentric shaft for rotation in a direction to result in the peripheral edge of said anvil roll being pressed against the peripheral edge of said cutter roll said eccentric shaft being substantially non-rotative in operation after said spring biases said shaft to cause the anvil roll to abut the disk shaped cutter roll, said housing and said tubular shield enclosing the major actively moving parts associated with the rolls that would collect and retain material cut off by the rolls.

2. A combination as in claim 1 wherein said means to bias said eccentric shaft comprises an arm extending at an angle from said shaft, said spring being attached to the end of said arm remote from said eccentric shaft, said spring being adapted to urge said arm in a direction at right angle to the longitudinal axis of said eccentric shaft.

3. A combination as in claim 1 wherein said anvil roll consists of the outer race of a ball bearing mounted on said eccentric shaft.

4. A continuous cutter arrangement comprising a cutter roll and an anvil roll, said cutter roll having a sharp peripheral edge adapted to rotate in contact with said anvil roll, a support, one of said rolls having an annular concentric groove in one face thereof, a rotatable shaft extending from said support and adapted to carry one of said rolls in fixed relationship therewith and with said annular concentric groove facing said support, a tubular shield carried by said support and extending into said annular groove in said one roll, a second shaft extending from said support substantially parallel to said rotatable shaft, the other of said rolls being mounted on said second shaft for rotation thereabout, said second shaft being movable for adjustment of said other roll toward and away from said one roll, a spring operatively connected to said second shaft and adapted to bias said second shaft for movement of said other roll toward said one roll to resiliently bias the peripheral edge of said other roll into contact with said one roll, said second shaft being substantially non-rotative in operation at least after said spring biases said shaft to cause the abutment of said anvil roll and said cutter roll, said support and said tubular shield shielding the major actively moving parts associated with said rolls that would collect and retain material out 01f by said rolls.

5. A continuous cutter arrangement comprising a cutter roll and an anvil roll, said cutter roll having a sharp peripheral edge adapted to rotate in contact with said anvil roll, a support, one of said rolls having an annular concentric groove in one face thereof, a rotatable shaft extending from said support and adapted to carry one of said rolls in fixed relationship therewith and with said annular concentric groove facing said support, a tubular shield carried by said support and extending into said annular groove in said one roll, a second shaft extending from said support in substantially the same direction as said rotatable shaft, the other of said rolls being mounted on said second shaft for rotation thereabout, said second shaft being substantially non-rotative in normal cutting operation of said arrangement, said support and said tubular shield shielding the major actively moving parts 20 associated with said rolls that would collect and retain material cut 011 by said rolls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Jordan Jan. 20, 1885 Richards July 5, 1892 Rahm July 28, 1896 Hannum Nov. 2, 1897 Hagerty Jan. 21, 1902 Taylor Feb. 6, 1917 Day Jan. 17, 1922 Beynon Apr. 15, 1924 Tjernlund July 9, 1929 Conway et a1. Jan. 19, 1932 Cameron June 21, 1932 Morton et al. July 15, 1941 Huizeng Aug. 5, 1941 Stocker Aug. 11, 1942 Cartlidge May 30, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Italy Feb. 16, 1946 

